Add a steamer basket and add in your potatoes and carrots, replace the lid and cook for 4 minutes, then you can quick release the pressure.

What are the Best Cuts of Meat for a Pressure Cooker Pot Roast?

In general, tougher cuts of meat work best for making a pressure cooker pot roast.

These are the cuts of meat that contain a decent amount of fat throughout and connective tissue, so if they were grilled, fried, or cooked quickly in some other way they would be as tough as old boots!

When cooked with a slow cook time, over a low heat, the collagen will eventually break down and melt, creating a fork tender piece of meat.

We want to make that same fall apart tender piece of meat over a much shorter cook time in our pressure cookers!

My favorite, no fail, piece of beef for my Pressure Cooker pot roast is the boneless chuck roast, it works for me every time.

The chuck roast cut comes from the shoulder of the animal and is a fairly inexpensive cut compared to some others.

How Long do You Cook Pressure Cooker Pot Roast for?

My recipe for pressure cooker pot roast cooks from between 47 minutes to over an hour depending on the thickness of the meat.

Chuck Roasts typically have a uniform thickness of about 1-2 inches, and this is an added benefit when cooking it in your electric pressure cooker as the cook time is often determined more by the thickness of the meat, rather than by the weight of it.

For example, if you have a chuck roast that is 3-4lbs, or one that is 5-6lbs, but they are both an inch thick then the cook time for both should be pretty similar in a pressure cooker.

I see a lot of recipes advocating what I think is a very long cook time for chuck roasts, often 60-90 minutes or more, which I find is too long for me.

By that time most of the flavor from the meat has transferred to the liquid surrounding it, which makes for a very flavorful gravy, but a pretty tasteless piece of meat.

That said, there are many others who love a pot roast that is pressure cooked for 60-90 minutes so my only conclusion is that it comes down to personal taste!

If the 47 minute cook time is not long enough for your pressure cooker pot roast, you can always put the lid back on and continue to cook it for a little longer.

What is a pot roast?

It’s a common misconception that the term Pot roast refers to the cut of meat used, it doesn’t, it’s simply the method used to cook the meat.

The typical way to cook a pot roast is to take a large cut of meat (in this case, beef) and brown it first to get that wonderful Maillard reaction which further boosts the flavor.

Then, the meat is usually cooked over a long time at a low temperature with the addition of some sort of liquid such as water, broth, or wine, until it is soft and tender.

More Instant Pot Beef Recipes

Instant Pot Beef Stroganoff is the perfect pressure cooker recipe, you’re going to LOVE it! This is a traditional beef stroganoff recipe and there’s not a can of cream of mushroom soup in sight, it’s all from scratch.

I’ve made this with strips of chuck roast instead of a more expensive quick cooking cut that’s typically used.

Instant Pot Beef Stew – a rich, healthy, and wonderfully tender pressure cooker beef stew that tastes like you’ve been cooking it all day long, but it’s made in your pressure cooker in a fraction of the time it normally takes!

Instant Pot Cowboy Beans truly are the best kind of comfort food, I can’t get enough of them and my boys demolished several bowlfuls in one sitting! The recipe is packed with Pinto Beans, onions, bell peppers, thick cut bacon, ground beef and seasoned with ancho chili powder.

Instant Pot Philly Cheesesteak Sloppy Joes – this recipe is a fun twist on the regular sloppy Joes recipe. I’ve adapted it for the pressure cooker and tweaked the flavors a little to get that some more of that Philly Cheesesteak vibe going on!

This Pressure Cooker Barbacoa will melt in your mouth, it really is that good! It’s so easy to cook in your pressure cooker and requires no advanced cooking skills but the finished dish tastes like you’ve been standing over it on the stove all day long.

Pressure Cooker Cincinnati Chili is unique in several ways, not least because of the unusual combination of chili spices that at first glance might seem more at home in apple pie than a pressure cooker ground beef chili!

Most recipes contain allspice and cinnamon and many also contain chocolate or cocoa powder, though I’ve omitted the latter in my version.

If you’re looking for a place to share and find more gluten free pressure cooker recipes, learn how to use your new pressure cooker, or simply ask for advice, tips and recipe ideas then don’t miss out on all the fun!

Instructions

Please read the notes for Paleo and Whole30 Version.

Start by browning the chuck roast in a little oil in the inner pot by turning on the saute function on your electric pressure cookerand adjust it to the medium heat option. Don't wait for the display to say 'hot', add oil right away and brown the meat on both sides, then remove it.

If the chuck roast is really wide it may be easier to brown it in a skillet in the stovetop instead.

Add the vegetables and garlic, then place the meat on top of the vegetables and season well with salt and pepper. Please note that the vegetables that are cooked with the meat are simply there to enhance the flavor of the cooking liquid and make a great tasting gravy, they will be very soft at the end of the cook time so you should remove them from the gravy.

Tuck the thyme and bay leaves along the sides of the meat.

PLEASE read the recipe notes on cook time first! They are at the end of the recipe card.

Pour in the beef stock or water, lock the lid, turn the steam release vent to 'sealing' and using the manual setting, adjust it to cook for 47 - 50 minutes at High Pressure.

My chuck roasts are about 1.5 - 2 inches thick and a 47 minute cook time works for me, if yours is much thicker than that you may need to increase the time a little.

When the cook time time is up, allow the unit to reduce pressure on its own without opening the steam release vent (Natural Release) for at least 12 minutes.

After 12 minutes you can carefully and slowly release the rest of the pressure.

Remove the meat and cover with foil.

If you want to cook potatoes and carrots to serve with this then remove the meat once it's cooked and cover with foil to keep warm.

Add baby potatoes and carrot chunks to a steamer basket and cook on high pressure for 4 minutes. You can then quickly release the pressure.

To make the gravy mix the cornstarch, or arrowroot for paleo, with a little cold water.

Add half of thestarch mixture to the meat juices then turn on the saute function if you need to let it heat up again until it thickens. If you want it thicker simply add more starch mixture.

Strain out the vegetables and serve over the meat.

Recipe Notes

COOK TIME

Cook time will vary depending on the size of your roast and it really depends on your tastes and how you like it cooked. So if you are used to slow cooking pot roast until it's totally falling apart and you can only pick it up in pieces with a fork then you'll need to cook your pot roast for longer than the time listed in my recipe.

The cook time as listed will typically create a roast that looks like the one in the video, so it's tender but not falling to pieces completely. I prefer it that way as I think cooking it until it falls apart makes it dry and stringy and all the flavor is lost from the meat and goes into the cooking liquid.

But as I said before it's all about personal preference so if you want it cooked like that it will probably take longer than 60 minutes at high pressure.

If your roast is tough and rubbery then it is probably not cooked long enough, so simply put it back in your pressure cooker and cook for a little longer.

Hi Stephanie, I just use the water/juices that are in there already. So as soon as the meat is ready to come out, I take it out and cover it, then put in a steamer basket with the veggies and use the hot liquid that’s in there to cook them under pressure. I thicken the gravy only AFTER I’ve made the veggies, thickened liquid sometimes will not come to pressure and can cause other issues, so be sure to do it afterwards!

I tried this tonight but had to use a pork butt roast due to the cost of chuck roast being so high. I just sliced it off the bone in 1.5 inch slices. Everything else I followed verbatim. It turned out fantastic! Thanks for the recipe!

Looks great and trying tonight but why would one serving be so high in calories and fat, etc. The ingredients don’t really seem to support that. Are the nutritual counts just for the whole thing all together?

You’re right! I’m so sorry. I made an error in the number of servings when I calculated the calories the first time around which made it much higher per person. The overall amount of calories for 4lb of chuck comes out at about 3265, I have it set for 6 servings from that though the ‘official’ people say that a serving size should be 3oz, I have it at about 10oz for 6 people this as that’s how many it will realistically feed, in my house anyway 🙂

Trying to recalculate this with the information you gave but my math skills are lacking to the point I can’t figure out what the calories, fat, etc. would be for a single serving. Could you recalculate for me? I’m trying to stay on a fairly lower calorie, fat and sodium meal plan. Thanks so much, in advance.

Hi Linda, lol, I hear you on the math, that is not my gift either! 🙂 In this post I estimated that a 4lb pot roast, plus all the other ingredients listed would feed 6 people, so the nutrition label you see at the end of the post is based on 6 servings and gives 571 calories per single serving. That’s an estimate, if you want a more accurate calculation I would put the exact ingredients you use, with the specific brands, and the exact weight of the meat and so on into caloriecount.com or something similar and see how that works. You can lessen the calories by letting the gravy cool in the fridge until the fat solidifies and skim that off, and use a low sodium broth or just use water instead to cook it, that will work too. I hope that helps!

Hi Leah, just use the function that allows you to manually programme the cook time yourself, I’m assuming that would be the pressure button, the ‘meat’ button is likely for a preset amount of time so I wouldn’t use that.

Sorry for the delay, I just got back from vacation! I don’t know if you tried it, but it tends to go on the thickness of the meat as much as the weight so if it’s still 1.5 – 2 inch thick then perhaps try 35 minutes and see how that goes? I’ve never cooked one that small so I’m not entirely sure. If it’s not cooked at that time you can always cook it a little more.

We tried this recipe tonight using a venison roast. It turned out PERFECT! I was skeptical because every time I’ve tried to cook a venison roast, it’s turned out dry and tough. This was fork tender, full of flavor, moist and melt in your mouth! This is absolutely a recipe that we will be making time and time again. I didn’t have a sprig of thyme, only ground thyme, so I just mixed some into the beef broth before pouring it into my Instant Pot. It worked well!

Hi Jaclyn, that is wonderful to know! I live in Mississippi and friends have been generous to give us venison over the years but like you I’ve found it tricky to cook the roasts so I’m delighted to hear that it worked in the Instant Pot!I’ll need to remember that for this season!

Hi Sarah, I’ve never cooked it from frozen but I’m told that typically cooking frozen meat in the pressure cooker means that it will take longer for it to come to pressure, but the actual programmed cook time would be the same. I’d be temped to add another 5 minutes to the cook time and see how that works for you, if it’s still not done you can always cook it a little longer, let me know if it works!

Hi! The meat cooked beautifully! Thank you for sharing the recipe! The only problem is that I am super confused on how to make the gravy. I am not a “cook” by any means so I am unable to figure it out on my own. Thank you!

Hi Alyssa, I’m sorry if the instructions are confusing for the gravy but there’s not much too it, I promise! So you remove the meat and veggies so that all you have left in the pressure cooker is the broth/meat juice. Then you can mix up the cornstarch with a little cold water and stir until it dissolves. I have an instant pot that has a ‘saute’ function which just heats up the pot underneath, then you simply add the cornstarch mixture to the broth and stir on a medium heat until it thickens. If it’s not thick enough, just mix up some more and add it in the same way. If your pressure cooker has no saute function you can make the gravy on the stove.

Great recipe and will definitely make it again. I, too, had difficulties making the gravy. I tried 3 tbl of arrowroot, but never got a gravy. So, gave up and used the au jus, which was tasty, as well. Maybe I need to give it more time and more arrowroot. It’s something I’ll need to play with.

Did it work for you Natalia? Kitchen still standing? Yes, I’m pretty sure that’s an Aggie ring! The hands are from my sweet friend Carla who helped me with the video, she’s an Aggie through and through 🙂

I made this pot roast last night. I did a few things differently but stayed pretty close to the recipe. I did put my potatoes in with the meat. They were huge potatoes from Sams club. I cut them in half n put the roast on top of the potatoes. This turned out great. Todays treat is apple crisp n i am doubling the recipe. Just got my 8 qt instant pot last week n so far i love it. Thank you.

I can’t wait to try this recipe this weekend. I also like my pot roast not quite falling apart and stringy. Quick question as I am new to the instant pot. If you find you want to cook the meat longer after taking it out, does your instant pot take a long time to come to pressure again?

Hi Tara, that’s a great question! So it will depend on how hot the liquid is and how much is in there,if you are fairly quick in assessing your meat to see if it’s done enough and you get the lid back on within a minute or two then it will be much quicker second time around as the whole thing is still warm/hot, and the meat itself will still be hot. If you let it all cool down it will be like cooking it from the start. I think it usually takes about 7-10 minutes first time around to come to pressure, so it should be faster if you had to cook it a little longer.

I don’t know how long it’s safe to leave it in there for. I don’t think I’d leave it for more than 1 hour on the keep warm setting, so if you put it on, left the house, and would be home within a two hour window I’d say that would work but I’m not sure about leaving it longer. You could also use the delay start function if you have an instant pot, but I would not delay it for longer than 30 minutes with raw meat or other items that need refrigeration, but that may buy you just a little extra time.

Loved it! 47 min was perfect and I LOVED cooking our potatoes and carrots afterwads, separate from the meat. They were so much better that way! Thank you! Also, I can’t have onions or garlic right now, so we used leeks and shallots. And we had fresh oregano on hand, so we used that instead of Thyme. Those substitions worked ok for us.

Thank you for this! I just got my Instant Pot and think this might be my inaugural run! I have never liked my pot roast cooked in a Crock Pot because it always tasted like a dry, stringy piece of cardboard with great gravy. I’ve never found anyone else (but you!) who has ever complained about that aspect of Crock Pot pot roast. So I’m really excited to try this.

Hi! This looks good, but I don’t see your recipe video. In fact, I don’t see the recipe card. Also, can I use tapioca starch instead of corn or arrowroot? I’m not sure the difference between those starches

My apologies on the video, it’s at the top of the post now (on desktop) and not above the recipe card, I changed that. The recipe for this and all the others is at the end of the post, if you got to the comments you would have scrolled right past it. If you still can’t see it above the comments send me a screenshot and I’ll investigate. You can use any starch you like and they will all thicken the gravy, I find that arrowroot is more slimy than the other two though so I prefer tapioca over it for that reason.

Hi Sarah, if you are still not able to see the recipe after you scroll all the way to the end of the post you can email me (sheena at noshtastic dot com) and I’ll try to help you. Are you looking on a desktop computer, tablet or phone?